All Scriptural Predictions Are Spurious

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 20 December 2024 Though I love reading Mr S Arshad's articles on this site, I must say, his latest article on Bhavishya Malika (Kalki Avatar and Imam Mahdi: Narrative of a Global Religious War Gaining Ground Among Hindus and Muslims) and its baseless predictions is a trifle frivolous. When the whole corpus of Hindu mythology and books (post 8th-century) are replete with derogatory words such as म्लेच्छand यवनfor Muslims, how can any sane and sensible person take these books and predictions to be authentic? First of all, this whole shebang of भविष्य (future) business and predictions is a humongous hoax. It's a lucrative business. Urdu poet Tahir Khairabadi aptly said, "Peshingoi Quran Ki Ho Ya Ho Geeta Ki / Peshangoi Kam Nahin Qissagoi Se" (Whether the predictions are in the Quran or Geeta / After all, all predictions are story-telling). Predictions are for fun. Read and forget them. They serve as placebos. Moreover, Bhavishya Malika is a spurious book that has been authenticated by the WhatsApp University. Kalki avatar, Dajjal, Imam Mehdi are all concoctions and fabrications. A few years ago, one Assamese occultist wrote that a rare book at Kamakhya Temple in Assam predicted that by the grace of goddess Kali, Islam would be wiped out from the face of the earth! He didn't predict that one day, all man-made faiths along with their gods would be extirpated! In his celebrated magnum opus, 'Man And His Superstitions, ' professor Sir Carveth Reid rightly observed that astrology was a universal superstition. This universal superstition seems unquestionable and all the more authentic when it has religious and scriptural sanction in the form of divine predictions. Christianity's Doomsday predictions and Quranic Peshingoiyaan ( predictions) are still relevant to the followers of these faiths. Hindus believe in the bogus predictions of Vishnu Puran, Garuda Purana and Bhavishya Purana. These "End Times" predictions are a rage nowadays as people suffer from Nostradamus Syndrome whose all 'predictions' were explained and analysed only after the events took place! To be curious about the future is a basic human proclivity. You cannot hold yourself back from asking an astrologer about your future however rational you may be. That's Pavlovian and embedded deep in the human psyche. "Poochh Leta Hoon Aage Kya Hoga / Mujhe Ilm Hai Nujoomi Jhoot Bol Raha Hoga" (I ask for a lark what will happen in future, though I know that the soothsayer is lying). Yes, all these clairvoyants are liars. No one knows what will happen the next moment, let alone tomorrow. Though I don't believe in any god, I must quote Alexander Pope's famous lines from 'An Essay on Man: Epistle,' to drive home my point, "Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate / All but the page prescribed, their present state." War is raging inside every individual. Why're we so concerned about the Third World War? It'll happen when it's destined to happen. Don't waste your sleep over trivial and trifling issues. ---- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/scriptural-predictions-spurious/d/134081 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism